The Five Obstructions

A playful yet philosophically rigorous documentary about artistic constraint and creative mentorship, where a master filmmaker imposes increasingly absurd rules on a peer's reimagining of his own work.

In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.